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First 'Intergalactic' Resistance Studies Conference

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

June 18-21, 2026 

Beyond State-Institution-Centric Narratives: Iranian Student Resistance, 1982–1989

Reyhane Gholami
Year of publication: 2026
DOI: 10.63961/2026.011

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Abstract

This paper challenges the prevailing historiography that depicts the 1982-1989 period in Iran as a vacuum of student agency due to severe state repression following the Islamic Cultural Revolution. By shifting away from state-institution-centric narratives, this study adopts a bottom-up perspective to explore the persistence of student resistance under theocratic authoritarianism. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with former students, the research reveals that resistance did not vanish but underwent a tactical metamorphosis. The findings identify a transition from atomized, individual acts of non-compliance to more coordinated, albeit non-overt, collective practices, which served as a critical period of incubation for future student activism in Iran.

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